What do Marty Nachel, Drew Beechum and Randy Mosher have in common? They were my first instructors, actually authors, of the first beer books I ever bought and read. I probably have gotten 80% of my homebrewed beer knowledge from these guys. Homebrewing for Dummies, The Everything Homebrewing Book and Tasting Beer were the first books I ever bought. Great information about brewing instructions and recipes. My shelf has been growing since then.

The other 20% of my knowledge came from several sources. Some of my information also came from the library. The Capital Area District Library here in Lansing, Michigan, has got an excellent selection of beer brewing books. They have a lot of ideas and recipes to get the homebrewer started. The Brooklyn Brew Shop's Beer Making Book, Beer Craft, the Complete Homebrew Beer Book, Brewing Made Easy and the Complete Joy of Homebrewing are just some of the titles. (Out of convenience, I didn't list the complete titles but if you search an online bookseller you should be able to locate these easily) Many may be at your local library; check your library to see what titles may be available. If you are like me you'll keep the library books too long and end up paying fines; you are better off buying the books outright. So, some of the books I purchased for my collection rather than constantly checking them out multiple times from my library.

Another source of information was the beer kit videos. Many of the beer kit makers had excellent videos. Check out these free videos: ​http://brooklynbrewshop.com/instructionshttp://craftabrew.com/ (video on their homepage near the bottom)(Craft-A-Brew is a copyright of Craftbrew, Brooklyn Brew Shop is a copyright of Brooklyn Brew Shop, LLC)

The kits also come with basic instructions if you didn't have internet access. Mr. Beer also has great hard copy instructions with their kits. A Mr. Beer kit was the first purchase I ever made. Each of these kits also give you a great way to get most of your needed equipment. It may be cheaper to get it in kit form. I also noticed that many of your retailers will offer the kits on sale after Christmas.http://www.mrbeer.com/(Mr. Beer is copyrighted by Coopers DIY)

Last, but not least, I have to give credit to my local homebrew supply store. Jordan, part owner, from Capital City Homebrew Supply gave some excellent in-person brew classes. He was able to answer a lot of questions and this really brought it together. https://www.facebook.com/CapitalCityHomebrewSupply